Harder line urged for crimes on homeless

Mar. 5, 2007

Written by

Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada lawmakers were urged Monday to increase penalties for crimes against homeless people. Advocates for the change cited a surge in violence nationwide against the homeless, a trend they say is caused in part by videos depicting homeless people fighting each other.

AB83 is one of a series of bills that the advocates proposed during a “tent city” staged at the Legislature in February. More than 100 people, including several lawmakers, spent a night in cardboard boxes and tents to bring awareness to the plight of homeless people. The bill would classify crimes against the homeless as hate crimes, allow victims to seek money through civil lawsuits, and require reporting departments to compile statistics on such crimes. Freshman Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, chief sponsor of AB83, said that in 2006 there 122 attacks against homeless people nationwide, including 20 that resulted in death. He also decried the increase in teen perpetrators of such crimes, and said experts believe violent video games and videos such as “Bumfights” factor into the trend. Las Vegas residents and “Bumfights” creators Ryan McPherson and Zachary Bubeck pleaded guilty in June 2003 to misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to stage an illegal fight in connection with their video production. Authorities have said more than 300,000 copies of the videos, showing homeless people fighting and performing dangerous stunts, were sold over the Internet. Michael Stoops, acting executive director for the National Coalition for the Homeless, testified in favor of the bill, saying that in one seven-year period twice as many homeless people were murdered than all other groups protected by federal hate crimes statutes. Stoops also said that more than two-thirds of those who commit crimes against the homeless are between 13 and 19 years old, and that attacks on homeless people rose 65 percent from 2005 to 2006. Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, said the bill should focus more on prevention, adding he didn’t think the legislation would “reach” teenagers. “A lot of this stems from thinking that people who are homeless, who a lot of times are veterans, people who served their country, are not ’human beings,’ and I think it’s more important to focus on the prevention side and educating these thoughtless teens,” Cobb said. Opponents of the death penalty spoke against the bill, saying it would increase the measures that make someone eligible for the death penalty.